I bought my first ‘Punk’ 45 in September 1978; The Buzzcocks ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t Have)?’ No gentle intro – just a chuggin’ bass, and 3 chords siren-ing into Shelley’s camp, sardonic vocal, deliberately distorting the last word of the line and ending barely 2 minutes later. I was hooked – and mum’s safety pins started disappearing… Punk snarled and spat its way into 1979, by which time it had made its point and served its purpose – music, fashion and politics would never be the same again (for us at least).
By the end of ’79, the anger, energy and nihilism was evolving into a New Wave of creativity. A year later, this 15 year old punk wannabee bought the Clash’s Sandanista! the weekend it was released. That Saturday morning as I waited for a half inch crew cut at Knipe’s the barbers in Portland street, Fareham I pulled the three (!) shiny 12 inch discs out of the iconic red and black Subway Records bag and read the Armageddon Times lyric booklet that came with the album. On first listen I was disappointed; riffs and sneers had been replaced with dub beats and harmonies.
Twenty-three years later I travelled around South America, inspired by the lyrics of Sandanista! The Clash were a constant through the evolution of punk, soaking up the world that was exploding around them – Thatcher, Reagan, The IRA, The Cold War, Revolution in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; Raging Bull and Taxi Driver… the band had travelled from Garageland to Broadway in barely three years.
Probably not even their best album, but the ‘jingle bells dribbling from 36 tracks’ (as Joe once described it) was a lesson in politics, history and travel for an impressionable 15 year old – as well as introduction to a cornucopia of new musical styles. The warts n’ all (Joe again) mix of hip hop, gospel, reggae and dub proved once again that punk was an attitude, an exploration – something infinitely more important than a style of music.
To pick one song is impossible; ‘Broadway’ may be the perfect Clash song and ‘Something About England’ may unwittingly answer the Jam’s ‘English Rose’. But if there was one tune that stuck in my head it was ‘Washington Bullets’. The romance in the lyrics – Havana, Tibet, Nicaragua; Castro, Dalai Lama and Victor Jara, inspired this 15 year old punk to see the world – and changed my life forever…
The Lonely Chopstick 